Project One Films

A rite of passage at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television for nearly 50 years, Project One films were undertaken by aspiring filmmakers before most of them ever set foot in a production class. Armed with an 8-millimeter semi-automatic camera, the students were expected to write, direct and edit a motion picture with sound during their first academic quarter. This full immersion into the project-based system -- where they would also eventually make a Project Two and a Project Three (today’s UCLA MFA students also make a Project Four) -- was designed to emphasize creativity over mastering complex filmmaking tools. That would come later, but only after the completion of this first film.

The students edited their projects on customized equipment allowing them to cut picture and sound synchronously. They often spent long nights and weekends working, virtually camped out in Melnitz Hall. At the end of each quarter, the completed films were screened and critiqued in a campus theater before an audience packed with faculty, fellow students, family and friends. These sessions were frequently spirited, and sometimes contentious, but set the young filmmakers on their way as cinematic artists.

The UCLA Film & Television Archive is pleased to be able to make these Project One films available to the public as part of its ongoing “L.A. Rebellion” initiative.

A young African-American male rethinks his role as a basketball player for the white establishment as he reads the works of Third World theoreticians, such as Franz Fanon, in Haile Gerima’s “Project One” film.

Filmmaker Thomas Penick explores race, gender and violence in this provocative, disturbing drama set on a hot, summer day in 1969. When a woman accepts a ride from two men at the corner of Western and Adams, the encounter quickly turns ugly, venturing into painful, surreal territory.